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Is high fidelity gear designed for Classical Music?


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G'day all, in my car this afternoon after gym I had to go and pick up a family member from a meeting and I took the opportunity to listen to the Drive program on ABC Classic FM while I waited, and on my reasonable car FM Radio the Classical Music really seemed to benefit from high fidelity FM stereo reception, not that pop/rock doesn't, but Classical Music seems to benefit more.  Is my perception correct?  Regards, Felix. 

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Classical music benefits from a low noise floor... there are more quiet parts than in most other genres. 

 

On the other hand, classical recordings don't always fully explore a system the same way that really well produced studio music - in particular electronica - can. 

 

Hi fidelity gear does both well. I'm not sure your car is the best place to explore this. 

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IMO, different music genre may test a system in different way.  There are certainly other music genres which may better test one or two specific elements of a system, but classical music seems to cover a lot of testing elements in one go, such as accurate timbre, soundstage, dynamic and frequency range, complexity of large group of musical instruments or vocals, etc.  So it generally is considered a very demanding genre.  I personally cannot stand listening to any classical music unless if it is a better than average system.

 

However not everyone enjoys listening to classical music. 

 

I do agree that in my car, with multiple speakers (even though just factory installed ones) create a rather awesome surround sound for Classic FM.  Most importantly inside my car it is quiet like a vacuum, well dampened acoustically, which shuts out almost all road and engine noises, so it is such a joy to listen to Classic FM when I am driving in busy Sydney traffic during rush hour. 

 

So yes, I see where you are coming from.  I wouldn't want to listen to Classic FM if I am in a hired cheap small car with crappy acoustic insulation or speakers.   

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I think there is some validity in saying that some systems play some type of music better than others. We would all like to think our system is the one for all genres. That's like saying our system is the best. 

 

I would have to say my totally DIY system of low power tube amps, tube preamp and high efficiency 15" concentric drives is a better Classical system than a rock/pop system. Of course that doesn't mean it can't play those genres it just does Classical and acoustics better.

 

I sometimes wonder then if we don't have the gear we have because of the type of music we play.  Since I play 90% classical I guess that's why I'm so content with what have. 

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I dunno, I like (love) my stereo as much as the next nut on here but I'm sometimes surprised at how much I enjoy the odd ABC classic tune in my stock stereo-in-a-mid-range Japanese small car with 2 kids in the back.  Its usually with newly discovered and unfamiliar tracks though.  Perhaps with songs I know well, I am more aware of how much fidelity is missing.

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No - quality high end gear play any music accurately - that's the key - accurately.

 

Remember however that accuracy is subjective - what one person thinks is accurate another thinks is harsh, hyper detailed, cold, sibilant - I have sat with enough people litening to gear and have heard them all.

 

Just a couple of weeks ago a guy out my way invited me and others to hear his DEQX based system and say how it maybe could be improved.  It ran  D'Appolito PHL drivers - they are very very efficient - something like 105db connected that way.   It was loud, very detailed, and extremely dynamic - but to my ears unnaturally hard and hyper detailed to the point of fatigue.  He asked my view - I told him I think the big issue is the switching power supply in the DEQX and he should have external DAC's to isolate the conversion from that hash and feed them into low powered high quality valve gear eg:

http://www.decware.com/newsite/homepage.html

 

But the chances of listening to me - zero - and to be blunt why should he.   He likes the sound - that's all that matters.  We are all different.

 

Thanks

Bill

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IMO, different music genre may test a system in different way.  There are certainly other music genres which may better test one or two specific elements of a system, but classical music seems to cover a lot of testing elements in one go, such as accurate timbre, soundstage, dynamic and frequency range, complexity of large group of musical instruments or vocals, etc.  So it generally is considered a very demanding genre.  I personally cannot stand listening to any classical music unless if it is a better than average system.
 
However not everyone enjoys listening to classical music. 
 
I do agree that in my car, with multiple speakers (even though just factory installed ones) create a rather awesome surround sound for Classic FM.  Most importantly inside my car it is quiet like a vacuum, well dampened acoustically, which shuts out almost all road and engine noises, so it is such a joy to listen to Classic FM when I am driving in busy Sydney traffic during rush hour. 
 
So yes, I see where you are coming from.  I wouldn't want to listen to Classic FM if I am in a hired cheap small car with crappy acoustic insulation or speakers.   

Maybe that’s the secret my two channel system at home doesn’t really replicate what my nine channel system in my car can reproduce?
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My system is designed to explicitly reject 3 types of music. Classical, and country and western.

 

I find if any classical music passes through my speaker cables, it takes a good 3 weeks to purge the damage it has done. I dont understand the nuances of how it can ruin the electrons path. But it does.

 

Yeah, I know, you probably think I like sweet white wine too. Each to their own. When I get really really old I might change my opininon

 

:)

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8 minutes ago, darth vader said:

My system is designed to explicitly reject 3 types of music. Classical, and country and western.

 

I find if any classical music passes through my speaker cables, it takes a good 3 weeks to purge the damage it has done. I dont understand the nuances of how it can ruin the electrons path. But it does.

 

Yeah, I know, you probably think I like sweet white wine too. Each to their own. When I get really really old I might change my opininon

 

:)

My music tastes are evolving as I get older used to hate Jazz but in the last 12 months I've grown to love it, getting older :emot-bang: 

 

What's wrong with a sweet wine a good fortified desert wine is yum. 

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Now that is the best bit.  Listening to the main system after a day or more commuting and working using rubbish idevice earphones with all that ambient noise is like a feast after famine.

 

I think someone from that fringe home theatre crowd needs to comment about how good music is through multichannel surround sound.  It could be the next big thing for stereo.

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9 hours ago, darth vader said:

My system is designed to explicitly reject 3 types of music. Classical, and country and western.

 

I find if any classical music passes through my speaker cables, it takes a good 3 weeks to purge the damage it has done. I dont understand the nuances of how it can ruin the electrons path. But it does.

 

Yeah, I know, you probably think I like sweet white wine too. Each to their own. When I get really really old I might change my opininon

 

:)

I did read once that if you introduce a new piece of gear or a whole system right from the start burn it in with the type music you listen mostly to. 

 

As a guy who has been building audio gear for over 45 years I can't see how playing one type of music can "damage" a system (volume levels not considered). 

 

IMHO and no slur on your good self, it is you found it offensive and that opinion has tainted you against both the music and your system for playing it. Easier to blame the system and flush it out with some Creedence Clearwater Revival  Proud Marry for a month or two. The one track over and over should fix it.

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3 hours ago, AudioGeek said:

I find classical (orchestral and chamber) much harder to reproduce in a home system than many other genres like rock and electronica.

I think this is because, mostly, it is extremely well recorded with no compression, some times just two or three mics. Great lengths are gone to to get balance, dynamics etc. correct. It is also live, most of the time one take, no overdubbing, EQing etc. 

 

I remember seeing how a recent pop song was put together. It was for pop singer  like Taylor Swift. A basic track was layed down in a studio let's say New York. That track was then farmed out all over the world to many different studios where months and months apart the bass in one country, drums in another, keyboards in another etc. were layed..

 

Then in the mixing and mastering they were all stitched together. There was compression and heaps of EQ on every track in the final mix more compress ran over the whole lot. It was then listen to on $5 earbuds and re-EQed to get the final product. Then stamped to CD etc. The produces were talking-up how good the process was and how clever they were to be able to do this. Sad really.

 

But Classical gets (thank God) and raw deal. Most of my best classical is from 1958 DECCA recordings to about mid sixties. RCA recording etc are also up there and yes - mostly vinyl. 

Edited by mwhouston
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@BATMAQN mate, have to agree. I've moved from rock/pop in the 60s ->80s to jazz to classical and now Opera and Ballet. I have quite a number of friends, my age, who still play what they were playing in the 60s etc. To me and it is just my opinion they never moved on. But each to their own and that's part of the richness of this subjective hobby. If it sounds good to you then it is good.

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Good quality audio equipment should be able to reproduce all music accurately.  However, we live in an imperfect world, and due to the nature and complexity of audio equipment compromises have to be made, which is why different audio equipment will sound different.  Hence some is good for rock, reproducing dynamics well but may not attend to subtleties well.  Another system may be better for classical of jazz, as it reproduces subtleties and nuances which are important in the more open spaces that music creates. 

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The problem is the definition of "Accurate". Its clearly not just a flat frequency response from the speakers at the listening position, its seems more an individual interpretation of music reproduction.

There is always the endless debate of how anyone other than those present during the recording can actually know how it is supposed to sound like.

 

 

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It's easy to right off car stereo systems but there are some really good ones out there. Not saying it's the best there is but we have a couple of LR Disco's and both came standard with the Harmon Kardon Logic7 system fitted which has 13 speakers and a fairly powerful good quality sounding amp. In all seriousness that HK sound system in the fairly large and boxy Disco body sounds extremely good and better than some reasonable two way systems I have heard. 

 

cheers Terry

Edited by TerryO
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Guest Muon N'
23 hours ago, bhobba said:

No - quality high end gear play any music accurately - that's the key - accurately.

 

Remember however that accuracy is subjective - what one person thinks is accurate another thinks is harsh, hyper detailed, cold, sibilant - I have sat with enough people litening to gear and have heard them all.

 

Just a couple of weeks ago a guy out my way invited me and others to hear his DEQX based system and say how it maybe could be improved.  It ran  D'Appolito PHL drivers - they are very very efficient - something like 105db connected that way.   It was loud, very detailed, and extremely dynamic - but to my ears unnaturally hard and hyper detailed to the point of fatigue.  He asked my view - I told him I think the big issue is the switching power supply in the DEQX and he should have external DAC's to isolate the conversion from that hash and feed them into low powered high quality valve gear eg:

http://www.decware.com/newsite/homepage.html

 

But the chances of listening to me - zero - and to be blunt why should he.   He likes the sound - that's all that matters.  We are all different.

 

Thanks

Bill

That mob you linked was the one exposed on diyaudio a few years back selling 100 buck Chinese dac kits in a basic little case for 1k+

 

The kit was the gigawork one that was quite popular for a time.

 

6moons included that dac in this review, anyone familiar with the kit will recognise it easily even with the blue film covering it.

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/usbdacs2/3.html

 

I can't find the thread on diyaudio but it was pointed out on a few forums at the time, like this one i used translate as was in Spanish https://translate.google.com.au/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexthardware.com%2Fforum%2Falta-fedelta%2F72755-ecco-come-fare-i-soldi-hi-end.html&edit-text=&act=url

 

dec2.jpg.602c9d9ac3e477b6822e2f592a5f5031.jpg

Edited by Muon N'
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16 hours ago, Addicted to music said:

Once you listen to the music in your car, the. Go home and turn that main rig on, then comeback and comment.

Not saying my car system sounds “better” than my main system at home. They are different, but somehow I enjoy both in different ways. Perhaps the joy of being able to immerse in another dimension while driving is really adding to the experience.

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On 11/16/2017 at 11:13 AM, mwhouston said:

@BATMAQN mate, have to agree. I've moved from rock/pop in the 60s ->80s to jazz to classical and now Opera and Ballet. I have quite a number of friends, my age, who still play what they were playing in the 60s etc. To me and it is just my opinion they never moved on. But each to their own and that's part of the richness of this subjective hobby. If it sounds good to you then it is good.

So you consider going from rock to jazz to 'opera and ballet'........moving on? Interesting........and just my humble opinion.:)

Edited by stevoz
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Guest Muon N'

They say that choice of music is in part a reflection of where ya' nervous system is at, might be why we mostly move onto more mellow types as we get on in years.

 

Meh...

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